Publishing and events group Reed Elsevier yesterday promised to hand back another £300million to shareholders this year after profits jumped 25 per cent.

The firm, which recently became embroiled in a spat with the National Rifle Association in the US, said the planned share buybacks come on top of the £350million it has already returned to investors since the start of 2012.

Reed said the decision was ‘based on our strong financial position’ after it saw annual profits surge by a quarter to £1.2billion on a 2 per cent rise in revenues to £6.1billon.

Guns at dawn: Reed Elsevier became embroiled in a dispute with the National Rifle Association

It also raised its full-year dividend by 7 per cent to 23p a share. The shares gained 10p to 709p.

The Anglo-Dutch group, the world’s largest exhibitions firm with 500 shows on its roster, now gets 80 per cent of its revenues from events and digital publications having scaled back its exposure to print.